Operation Insight

On the Wall of Honor at the St. Charles County Veterans Museum, there are 116 dog tags representing servicemembers from our county killed in action since World War I through the present day. The museum features their stories. Tonight, we are going to share some of those stories. By keeping their stories alive, we honor them and are reminded that freedom isn't free. All of their stories are also featured on our website.

Wright Construction Services, Inc. celebrated its sixteenth year in business in February 2021. Wright Construction is licensed in twenty-two states and is the largest general contractor in St. Charles County.  What makes Wright Construction special is its quality work and community involvement.
In 2019, Wright Construction hosted its inaugural 22 Strong Walk. The number 22 is significant to Wright's event because it represents the 22 veterans who lose their lives to suicide every day. Their goal is to support our community of veterans and bring awareness to charities dedicated to aiding and assisting veterans. Virtual walkers joined the event from eighteen states across the country, and over 100 people participated in St. Charles in 2021.  This September, Wright will host its fourth annual event. The goal of each of these events is to raise awareness and funds for organizations dedicated to eliminating veteran suicide.
Wright Construction has a strong “Giving Back Program” in our community. For more information about Wright Construction and its Giving Back efforts, click on the link below.
https://www.wrightconstruct.com/giving-back/

LTC Steve Brown served in the Air Force from 1968 to 1991, twenty-three years as a pilot. Steve had a very distinguished career in the Air Force. As a new pilot, he paid his dues flying a Caribou carrying everything from ammunition, supplies, troops, to livestock in Vietnam. He graduated to the B-52’s flying bombing missions during Operation Linebacker II. Negotiations for peace talks had bogged down, so President Nixon ordered the bombing of Hanoi. Operation Linebacker II was important because it forced the communists back into serious peace negotiations. After Vietnam, as the Cold War intensified, Steve sat on the tarmac on alert in the cockpit of his B-52 armed with nuclear weapons. From the B-52s, Steve joined a very elite group of pilots flying the U-2 reconnaissance plane. Dressed in an astronaut suit, armed only with a camera, Steve would fly over Cold War hotspots, secretly capturing images.

This episode features Jim David from the St. Charles County Veterans Assistance Office. The office is located in O'Fallon's City Hall and is staffed by volunteers Monday-Thursday, from 9 AM to 4 PM. The volunteers are ready to assist you with your Veterans Assistance needs. Jim outlines what assistance the office can provide and how to utilize them. He shares how the office came together in St. Charles County and how the office works with the veteran/veteran family navigating the various veteran assistance resources or departments within the VA or branch departments. He shares past stories on how the Veterans Assistance Office has helped Veterans and their families with issues they are facing. He discusses the training the volunteers receive and how they work with the local Veterans Service Officer. The Veterans Assistance Office is always looking for volunteers to assist our veteran community.

Women have been serving in the military in one form or another for more than 200 years. They have had to overcome decades of obstacles in order to be allowed to serve their country, and are now deployed in ever-increasing numbers, in combat roles and in leadership positions all around the world. Today, women make up 16% of the military, and nearly 10% of veterans are women. The SCCVM showcases the artifacts, uniforms, photos, and especially the stories of numerous brave women from World War Two through the present day. Our guest this week is the museum curator, Marcia Higgins, who will discuss highlights of the items on exhibit in the museum and tell stories about these women of valor.

Combat medics play a unique role in the military. Not only must they be experts in battlefield medicine, but they must also remain proficient in combat tactical skills. They frequently witness injuries and death and are often exposed to the personal threat of trauma. Medics run towards the danger to render aid to those injured while exposing themselves to enemy fire. While under attack, medics must fight alongside their fellow soldiers. Combat medics and corpsmen felt the best way to serve and save lives was alongside the troops.
While they can easily rationalize, they cannot save everyone, which causes high levels of stress. Because of this double-duty role, combat medics often face stressors that other military specialties do not. Military medics are at high risk for burnout, compassion fatigue, combat stress, and medic PTSD.
Tonight’s guest is MSG Matthew Sims, who served our country as a combat medic. In 2005, during his deployment to Iraq, Matt regularly placed himself in harm’s way. Matt was awarded three Purple Hearts. Though retired, Matt continues to serve today.

The United States entered World War II soon after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Despite the late entry into the war, Merchant Mariners were dying months before America joined the Allied Forces! During the war, 733 American cargo ships were lost. There were 243,000 mariners who served, and 9,521 perished while serving.  Roughly four percent of those who served were killed. This was a higher casualty rate than that of any of the American military branches during World War II. Merchant Mariners were the lifeline for our fighting troops, supplying virtually everything our armies needed.
When they enlisted, they were promised all the benefits of the other military branches. The reality was that mariners received no government benefits, paid income taxes, and earned money only when their ships were at sea. If their ships were torpedoed, they stopped getting paid the moment they hit the water! They were off the clock when swimming for their lives. And when they returned to civilian status, they were denied a lifetime of military benefits, including health care, money for college, and low-interest loans. Merchant Mariners possessed an unusual variety of courage and gave their lives for their country as valiantly as those in the armed forces did, without benefits.
The Merchant Mariners were unsung heroes! This is the story of Charles Hoffman, who served as a Merchant Marine from 1943 to 1945.

Angela Peacock joined the Army immediately after high school in 1998. Angie was strong, tough, and a born leader. She was ready, willing, and able to do anything a man could do. After a stint in Korea where she was assaulted, SGT Peacock was deployed to Iraq in May 2003. She began driving supply convoys in an area known as the Triangle of Death. The routes in the Triangle were very dangerous, and many KIAs occurred there. They said, No woman in combat? No front lines for women? Baghdad was the front lines!

We are honored to host Terry C. Bryant, Commander of the State Korean War Association, and GySgt Harry Hope, who fought at the Chosin Reservoir.
The Korean War was fought from 1950 until 1953 and pitted the United States, South Korea, and their U.N. allies against North Korea and the Chinese Communists. The invading North Korean troops captured Seoul within three days. That marked the first of four times the city would exchange hands. The tide turned that September due to a surprise amphibious landing that General MacArthur executed behind enemy lines at Inchon, the port for Seoul. When U.N. troops then pushed deep into North Korea, rumors began to swirl that they would be home by Christmas.
When China entered the war in October in support of North Korea, American troops began the longest retreat in U.S. military history. The U.S. troops were never able to recover. The Korean War was one of the deadliest wars in modern history, with nearly 40,000 U.S. soldiers killed and another 100,000 wounded.

Nearly 200,000 U.S. Troops are deployed around the world, many in harm’s way. For every troop deployed, there are multiple family members, including mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, and foster mothers, trying their best to support and comfort the troops. Blue Star Mothers concentrates on providing emotional support to its members. Even when we are not at war, military families often deal with stresses such as frequent moves or the absence of a parent. Deployment to war creates additional issues for a family to handle. A Blue Star Mother knows “the hardest battles” are often fought on the home front and are emotional, and much harder to win. And any parent will tell you, there are no safe places to be deployed.
Our guests today are Kathy Schulte and Tracy Lee, the local Blue Star Presidents. Tracy and Kathy are intimately aware of the emotions and stress our troops and their families experience while serving.

On June 2nd, 1969, the Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans was cruising through the calm, moonlit waters of the South China Sea. Just days before, the Evans was on the gun line, throwing countless shells at targets in South Vietnam supporting ground troops. The Evans had just earned its second Vietnam Service Medal for combat operations in 1969.
On this night, the Frank E. Evans joined forces with SEATO naval forces to conduct war games and a show of force in the South China Sea. During the mid-watch, however, with the commanding officer fast asleep, the Evans made a navigational error, and an Australian aircraft carrier, the HMAS Melbourne, a much larger ship, struck it and sliced it in half as a result. The bow section of the ship would sink beneath the waves in ten minutes.
This is the story of the collision as told by a survivor, MMFN Joe Mulitsch. The Evans was his first ship.  Joe escaped, but 74 of his shipmates perished that night, fifty-three years ago.

Ella Mateja was eight years old when she began selling lemonade as a way to raise funds for our brave veterans and first responders. She was inspired by her grandpa Ken and his brothers, all of whom served in the military. Ella has dedicated herself to running the lemonade stand every year until she graduates. In the last seven years, Ella's little lemonade stand has helped raise funds for the Missouri Military Memorial Foundation, Fallen Heroes Dream Ride, Missouri Patriot Guard, St. Charles County Veterans Museum, BackStoppers, and the local VFW.
It has been amazing how the community has come together to raise nearly $120,000 to remember her heroes; our fallen military personnel and first responders. One hundred percent of all donations go directly to the organizations.